


Coming Home

by ardentaislinn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, WWII AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 05:51:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1458259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ardentaislinn/pseuds/ardentaislinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: A CS WWII reunion scene (Killian coming back from war, Emma running into his arms)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a Tumblr prompt by warpsex

_Emma,_

_I promised that I would think of you every day. I have kept that vow. Through the mud, the sweat, the blood, and the misery, the image of you has been my beacon in the darkness. I keep every letter you have sent me next to my heart, since that is filled with you as well. I will make it home to you, Emma. I swear with every breath in me that that ring I gave you was not an empty promise for our future…_

Emma felt the paper crumple in her hands as tears sprang to her eyes. The letter had once been a source of such joy and comfort, until those three little words had arrived on her doorstep.

_Missing, Presumed Dead_

Now, the letter was her only source of rapidly diminishing hope. The war was over, and there was still no sign. No one had found him, and Emma struggled to remember his vow to return to her. He couldn’t be dead. He always kept his promises.

She folded the letter carefully and placed it back in the box. She shut the lid and returned the small chest to its place on the mantle, her morning ritual complete. Reading that letter was the only thing that got her out of bed, some days. Others, it renewed her hope enough for her to be able to function normally.

But each night she would come back to the home that was meant to be _theirs_ and couldn’t stop her tears.

She twisted the engagement ring on her finger, sending out a prayer to whichever deity answered that he was still alive, and not just another anonymous body in a ditch.

A shudder wracked through her and the sob caught her by surprise. She bit her fist, desperately trying to keep the pain and despair at bay.

After all they had been through, she couldn’t give up. They had both lost so much, and were all the other had left. He couldn’t be gone, because she simply couldn’t go on without him.

There was a noise on the path outside and Emma frowned. She hadn’t been expecting someone today.

She moved to peer out the glass at the side of the door.

Emma suddenly found herself flying down the path, having no idea how she’d got there. She launched herself into his arms.

“Killian, are you a dream?” she whispered, her eyes squeezed shut for fear of waking up.

“No, love. I’m home. I’ve come home,” his familiar voice murmured with repressed emotion.

The sob that had nearly escaped her minutes before now burst free. She clutched at his crisp uniform desperately, needing to feel his solid presence in beneath her hands. He held her close, and she could feel a dampness on her shoulder where his head rested. Her own tears were falling with abandon.

He’d come back to her.

Eventually she pulled back, needing to see him with her eyes. Her hand slipped down his right arm and settled in his palm. He kept his head down, seemingly unwilling to look at her. But his fingers clenched tightly around her own.

“Killian?” she asked softly.

“Emma…,” he began, then swallowed thickly. “Can you…can you still love me?” he looked up, his eyes blazing with vulnerability.

She frowned. “What do you mean? Why would you even ask that?” Her voice was high and her heart was beating an unsteady rhythm in her chest, responding to the pain in his expression.

He slowly raised his left arm, and Emma noticed what she hadn’t before. Bandages.

His hand was amputated.

“I’m not the man I was when I left. I’m not whole anymore.” Emma looked deep into his eyes and realised he wasn’t just talking about his hand. She gently ran her fingers over his arm, mindful that it could still hurt.

“Killian, I love you.” Tears sprang to her eyes and her voice was shaking, but she pressed on. “I’ve loved you from the moment we met and you insisted that I dance with you in the rain. I’ve loved you through loss, through war, through years of separation. Losing your hand won’t change that, nor will anything else. You’re stuck with me, for the rest of our lives.”

Killian’s eyes roved her face, as if trying to judge her sincerity. She poured all her love into her eyes as she looked at him, needing him to know the truth. Finally, he nodded and a faint smile ghosted across his lips. He sucked in an unsteady breath and then hauled her to him, clutching her tightly to him. She felt his body relax slightly as she rubbed comforting circles across his back.

“Good,” he whispered as his lips found hers. “Because I’m never leaving you again.”

 


End file.
